Pre-Order Drawings: Wizard World Chicago

Here it comes, Wizard World Chicago. Just finished recovering from San Diego and I have another long weekend ahead of me. At least with this one I'll spend most of my time sitting on my rear rather than standing. I'm looking forward to Chicago because, unlike San Diego, I'll get to spend a lot of time drawing. At San Diego there was no time to do commissions so not only to I fall out of practice a bit but I feel a little bit at a loss---I have no idea what to do with myself at a show if I'm not working.

Now, to the point of this post. Although there are only three days left before I leave for the Windy City I wanted to give folks attending the show the opportunity to pre-order commissions. My rates for Chicago for a single character commission w/ ink wash (similar to above image) are $50. Each additional character is $30. Background (if any) and pose/layout are at my discretion. Any commissions for characters from my comic The Damned are a bargain at $40. Any orders placed prior to the show (pre-paid) are $10 less than the above listed prices. All interested parties can reach me at brihurtt@hotmail.com.

Space is limited.

Even if you're not interested in a drawing, please stop by the table in Artist's Alley (table #5308). Cullen and I look forward to seeing you all!

Click on the "convention drawings" label right below to see other examples of my convention commissions.

Dream A Little Dream

I have either been busy, busy, busy or lazy, lazy, lazy. Take your pick. Either one is probably a little bit true. It's convention season which, apart from being time consuming, can also be quite draining. I always have to factor in at least one day of recuperation whenever I return from a show. I got back from San Diego late Monday--had a good time, glad to be home. That's my con report. And to add that we sold out of all the copies of The Damned that we brought. Oh yeah, and there was this announcment in last Thursday's issue of Variety:

DreamWorks drawn to comic pair

Parkes, MacDonald to produce 'Damned'

DreamWorks has scooped up the film rights to the Oni Press comicbook series "The Damned" and "Courtney Crumrin," for Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald to produce.

"Courtney Crumrin," an ongoing series written and illustrated by Ted Naifeh, revolves around a misfit who moves with her social-climbing parents into her uncle's spooky mansion. While her parents strive for status in their new, swanky neighborhood, the oddly charming girl finds magic in her uncle's library.

Series consists of 12 comicbooks compiled into three graphic novels. A fourth novel, "Courtney Crumrin and the Fire-Thief's Tale," is set for publication on Aug. 15.

"The Damned," a horror-noir series penned by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt, is a gangster thriller with a supernatural twist. When a pack of demons arrive in their city, two rival gangs must join forces to defeat their new common enemy. Comicbook series, which first hit the stands last fall, has been compiled into a five-part graphic novel that's set to hit the stands Friday.

Eric Gitter at Closed on Mondays is also producing the projects via Closed on Mondays Entertainment, the film production arm of Oni Press, a leading independent comicbook and graphic novel publisher. Both projects will be touted at Comic-Con, which gets under way today in San Diego.

Lisa Gitter, Steven V. Scavelli and Joe Nozemack will co-produce the two projects for DreamWorks, while Peter Schwerin will exec produce. Alisa Tager brought in the projects to shingle Parkes/MacDonald, which is based at DreamWorks.

Parkes and MacDonald previously ventured into the comicbook world when bringing the "Men in Black" franchise to the bigscreen. Other producing credits include "Catch Me if You Can," "The Ring," "Road to Perdition" and "Gladiator." They are currently in post on Marc Forster's "The Kite Runner" and Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd," starring Johnny Depp.

Oni Press, through Closed on Mondays, has several projects set up around town, including "Scott Pilgrim" and "Leading Man" at Universal. Independently, Oni is producing the bigscreen adaptation of "Seasons of Dust," with Tim Blake Nelson set to direct.

Oni and Closed on Mondays are repped by UTA.

Admittedly, they didn't get The Damned plot synopsis quiet right, but that's okay, Cullen and I are very excited nonetheless. Congrats are also in order to Ted Naifeh and his Courtney Crumrin series. I've been a fan since the beginning. I'll be sure to keep you posted to any updates, right here. In the meantime let me share some previously unseen Damned images:

D to the O to the F to the P

That's Days of Future Past to all you haters.

Ain't nothing cooler that old Wolvie sporting those Reed Richard-looking white-walls.This commission was the very last page in someone's X-Men sketchbook that was started sometime back in the ealry 90's and has some great drawings by folks like Steve Epting and John Romita Jr. No pressure at all, right?
I got this commission after the owner of the sketchbook saw this old post.

I Say Thee, Aw Shucks!

Another Cannonball, circa early 80's Asgardian Wars. Having liked my take on Dani Moonstar from the same story ( see here), I was approached by someone at HeroesCon to do a Cannonball from that classic epic. Unfortunately, I didn't have any reference for him so I had to wing it (see here). As I was doing that drawing someone else came up to the table that basically had the exact same idea. He'd even brought a print-out for reference. It was too late for the current drawing but I could use the reference for his drawing when the time came. After looking at the drawing I was doing, he basically told me to forget about the reference and draw him in the garb I had made up. Just have him "blasting". Easy enough. So, above is the result of this second Asgardian Cannonball drawing. Yee-ha.

Bring Out The Damned

What's that you say? You feel like you really need a solid dose of mobsters and monsters? Well, my friend, you're in luck! The Damned trade paperback is officially in stores today. If you have any goodness in your heart you will rush out and buy this wonderful production brought to you by Messrs. Bunn and Hurtt and the fine people at Oni Press. If you're a really wonderful person you'll buy copies for your friends!

If you have had a chance to read the book, I know that Cullen and I would love your feedback!

Speed Racer

This one is a post HeroesCon follow-up. Being the last drawing on the list I wasn't able to get to it so I promised to take it home and mail it to the owner. I have to admit to being a little apprehensive about drawing the Flash (Golden Age or not) because when trying to draw him in the past I've always had a problem making running look, I dunno--dynamic. To my surprise I think this piece ended up turning out all right.

Queen & Country Redux

First, here is one of two Tara Chace drawings I did at HeroesCon (if whoever I did the second Tara for happens to read this, I would love a scan of that image). It's always fun to revisit Tara, as she was essentially the first protagonist I ever drew in comics. Being my first gig I don't think I did her any justice. So it's always nice to feel like I'm given another shot.

After posting a bunch of con sketches over the past couple weeks I was contacted by someone who said they thought maybe I'd like to post one of their con sketches that I'd done...two years ago. I braced myself, expecting the worse. I usually can't stand to see anything I've done that's more than a few months old. But y'know what? It wasn't half bad. Here's an image of crotchety Crocker sitting at his desk:

I felt like this post needed one more drawing to feel complete. It's always been a hope of mine that I could do just one more Q & C story. Just about the most fun I've had doing a comic (outside of The Damned) was my three-issue Queen & Country: Declassified story featuring a young Paul Crocker. I've always liked the idea of returning to do one more Paul Crocker adventure. There are too many obstacles that stack up against that ever happening but it's still nice to daydream about. Here is a quick ink sketch of young Crocker that I did at 4 a.m. this morning. I don't think it turned out half bad.